Lufthansa now serves the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam with 20 flights a week. The airlines is offering unparalleled choice of travel and flexibility for passengers to and from the Kingdom.
“Lufthansa has been making its presence felt in the Gulf, adopting a step-by-step growth program designed to meet increased market demand,” said Stefan Loecherbach, Lufthansa’s director for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen, while speaking on the occasion of the German Unification Day. In addition to its recent additions in Saudi Arabian services, Lufthansa has stepped up its scheduled service on the Bahrain-Frankfurt route to a daily flight in September last year, up from four flights per week, less than four years after its entry into the market, he added.
Other recent Lufthansa schedule enhancements in the Gulf include the year-round deployment of a widebody Airbus A340-600 aircraft on the Dubai-Munich route — launched in spring 2010, and the upgrade of the Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt service to six weekly nonstop flights. Muscat too has seen an increase in the frequencies of flights and is now connected to Frankfurt six times a week via Abu Dhabi, and since spring 2009, the Kuwait-Frankfurt operations have recorded increased capacity on the daily service.
This means that more travelers than ever across the region are now enjoying the greater flexibility and convenience provided by links to Lufthansa’s Frankfurt hub, one of the world’s leading gateways for air travel.
Referring to the growing popularity and customer choice of Lufthansa in Saudi Arabia, Loecherbach said: “This year’s schedule enhancement of our services for Saudi Arabia has been very well received by the market. Customer feedback indicates that we are satisfying a real and growing need from local businesses and private individuals alike by providing more links to Lufthansa’s Frankfurt gateway, with onward connections to more than 200 destinations worldwide.”
Lufthansa currently serves nine destinations in the Gulf — Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat and Riyadh. Further destinations in the Middle East include Beirut, Amman, Sanaa, Tehran, and Irbil in Iraq. Lufthansa flies to more than 100 destinations in Europe and provides flexible travel options to more than 200 destinations worldwide via its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. Customers can fly to 21 destinations in North America nonstop from Frankfurt or Munich.
Many more are served in cooperation with code share partners United Airlines and Continental Airlines and with Lufthansa’s affiliate JetBlue, in which it holds a 15.6 percent equity stake. On arriving at Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class passengers and status customers can look forward to relaxing at Lufthansa’s exclusive Welcome Lounge.
The facility, which opened in Jan. 2009, is geared to the needs of travelers arriving on long-haul flights. In addition to a comprehensive breakfast and snack buffet, served in comfort areas and quiet zones, a modern shower area on the lower level is one of the Welcome Lounge’s exclusive features. Its 28 high-end showers allow passengers to relax and prepare for the day ahead.
A concierge is on hand to allocate shower facilities and coordinate customer wishes, including an ironing service for HON Circle members, First Class guests and Senators. Passengers with onward connections can choose from a number of First Class, Senator and Business Class lounges. “Choosing to fly with Lufthansa also means being able to enjoy the many benefits of Miles & More,” said the Lufthansa chief.
Founded by Lufthansa’s in 1993, Miles & More today counts more than 15 million members, making it Europe’s largest and most successful frequent flyer program. It has since been joined by a number of Lufthansa’s European partner airlines, including affiliates SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is an Aviation Group comprising around 400 subsidiaries and affiliates. The Lufthansa Group is dedicated to quality and innovation, safety and reliability. Headquartered in Germany, the group operates in five business segments — passenger transportation, logistics, MRO, catering and IT services. Passenger transportation is the group’s core business: The airlines engaged in the passenger transportation business are Lufthansa (including Lufthansa Regional and Lufthansa Italia) Austrian Airlines, bmi, SWISS and Germanwings. The group also has stakeholdings in Brussels Airlines, JetBlue und SunExpress.
In the 2009 business year, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group welcomed more than 76 million passengers on board their flights, making it Europe’s leading airline grouping. Operating through the Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, London-Heathrow, Brussels and Zurich hubs, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Brussels Airlines and SWISS jointly serve 274 destinations in 104 countries on four continents. The group fleet currently consists of more than 720 aircraft — on order are another 146, valued at a total of 13 billion euros at list price and scheduled for delivery between 2010 and 2016.
